Mad at the auction house

Guys, I have a deep and powerful sadness today and I'm not even sure it's justified. When I went to the auction, I picked up a couple of these:

Challenge coins. Now, here's the thing about them. You don't just get them for sitting on your butt all day. Somewhere along the line, someone did something pretty awesome to have been given one. Challenge coins are given by commanding officers for a job well done. So I, as always, started wondering about them. Who had them first? Who was the man who received this and why? How did it end up here? Did something happen to him and if so, why in world did his family let it go?

Made me mad.

Should it?  Probably not.

Anyway, I see myself as a savior of these things. Every time I see one at an auction or carelessly tossed aside at a yard sale, I pick up and bring it home. Someone worked hard to get it and if only for that, it's worth keeping safe.

Be on the look out for: Asparagus holders!

Asparagus has always been a costly fruit. Many years ago, IF you could afford it, then you certainly could afford something to take care of it with.  Enter instruments like these:

You see, asparagus was not meant to be pierced. So, you'd see all sorts of servers used to pick them up without breaking the skin.

So the next time you see a weird piece of tableware with a flat edge, perhaps a hood, pick it up!  It just might be worth something!



Life on Mars and I'm a Published Author!

Why am I singing Life on Mars by David Bowie, you ask? 
Well, I'll tell you. One of my works was recently accepted into a Science Fiction anthology about life on Mars!  I'm excited - terribly excited - the kind of excited where your face hurts from grinning so much and your own momma hates you.

(I'm kidding, Ma!)

I write because it's fun.  That's it and knowing that someone else likes enough of my fun stuff to include it in their book sends me though the freaking roof.

I think I may just have to reward myself with a bit of geeky space jewelry. Here's to awesome Mondays!

Gretna Green Vintage Charm

Confession: as a kid, I loved historical romance novels. The first one I ever read was called Man of My Dreams by Johanna Lindsey and I only got it from the library for two reason.  One, the cover. Two, they finally said I was old enough to get it a book from that section.

I can hear you judging me, but hey - I was only in 5th grade!  Cut me some slack. I have since progressed to more pithy things, but let me just say, my eyes were opened.

Anyway, it seemed like every novel I read seemed to have the same storyline: guy meets girl and they have to escape to Gretna Green. It became a running joke in my middle school book club. How many books can we find with men picking up women for quickie marriages just over the Scottish border in Gretna Green?  We found a lot.

Which brings me to this!

This vintage sterling silver charm is soooooo on my charm bracelet now. It reminds me of everything: middle school, the books we used the read, the shared giggles over still undetermined lunch food and the day I got that book from the library. 

Mmmmm....independent/handmade stationary!

There's something terribly tragic about plain pieces of paper. Thank goodness we don't have to live in such a world where we must face that great evil.  Magical people have created beautiful works of art meant to be marred, stapled, hung and folded. Here are some bits of stationary and invitations that caught my eye while dancing across the interwebs:

Orange Crush by Lasso'd Moon http://www.lassodmoondesigns.com/

Vintage Couture by Love, Jessica http://www.lovejessica.com/

57L22 by Renaissance Writings http://www.renaissancewritings.com/

They're pretty cool, right? Now, I don't know these folks, but the work speaks for itself. One of my May goals is to support small and independent businesses and with companies like these around, I don't have to go into a big box store for stationary ever again.

My Traditional Vintage Charm Bracelet

I've officially run out of space on my charm bracelet. Mostly. Here it is in all it's glory. Last time I counted, I had 50 something charms up there...that was about a year ago.

I've been adding to it for about 15 years (half of my life) and it has all of my memories from jungles in India, tea in Athens to my graduation from grad school. I've decided to start another one when I get married.

You'll see a mixture of new and vintage charms. When I go some where for the first time, I usually get the first charm I can find, then take a more leisurely pace to find vintage ones of the location. I devote an entire day of vacation to scouring antique and vintage stores in every country...every city I go to. Once I get home, I review them all and find the one that will represent my trip/event best and put it on my bracelet.  The others I display in a clear jewelry box or put up for sale in my shop, Vintage Charms and Bracelets.

Most are sterling silver, though I have a few lesser silvers (.800, .900) and a handful of pewter ones.  My favorites are the vintage tea cup charm from the 1940s, the Portugal/Lisbon shield charm, the Swiss chalet (opened in the picture to reveal a 'sleeping' couple), and the fruit cart that represents my time living in the Mediterranean.

Here you can see that I don't solder my charms to have them permanently attached to the bracelet. Rather, I use split rings.  They last forever and ensure that the charms will only come off IF I make them. Jump rings work fine for most folks, but this thing is too big and if I were to lose a charm, I wouldn't know it soon enough to look for it...this I know tragically all too well.

Anyway, If you have questions about any of the charms you see, just ask in the comment section below. If you have pictures of your own charm bracelet, feel free to post the link - I'm ADDICTED to charm bracelets and can look at (drool over) them all day!

Vintage Opera Glasses

At a mega $1 for everything church fundraising sale, I spied these vintage opera glasses (spied...get it...ehh).

Cute, right? This tiny thing fits in the palm of my hand and is so effective that I've just decided to keep it in my purse at all times (I'm not entirely sure how of that is necessity vs show-and-tell). Anyway, to protect this thing, I'm keeping it in an old Sephora cloth case – the kind they send your orders in. Love those things. The come in all sizes and I've used them to protect and house everything from shoes and purses to lipsticks and mechanical pencils.

Oh, speaking of mechanical pencils, I've just found one from the 1950s, that I intend to put on a chatelaine that I'm making. Hope to have it completed soon. I'll post pics as soon as I do.

Happy Sunday!